


all of our flaws lie there, hand in hand

by kenmagoesblep



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: 4 + 1 things, 5 Things, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Getting Together, Humor, M/M, Minor Use of Memes, Pining, but he does., rated T because Kuroo curses. not a lot, set during the Tokyo Training Camp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-29 23:39:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17817728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kenmagoesblep/pseuds/kenmagoesblep
Summary: There was a lot that modern science couldn’t explain as it was, one of those things being the nature of soulmates. There was no explanation as to how it happened, or why it manifested that way — sharing your scars with your soulmate seemed very arbitrary, which raised even more questions about the whole thing.At some point, Kuroo (much like the people around him) decided he wouldn’t break his brain trying to figure that out. Maybe when he was an adult. What mattered to him was that having a soulmate was a comforting thought, but the sudden realization that he might've found them left him giddy.---4 times Kuroo tried denying Sawamura Daichi was his soulmate and 1 time he had to face the facts.





	all of our flaws lie there, hand in hand

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yikescaninot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yikescaninot/gifts).



> title's inspired by the lyrics to bastille's flaws. (the accoustic version is my favorite) 
> 
> hi there!!! its me again, posting unfunny (or funny?? if you're me???) fics to the haikyuu tag again!!! this time, as a belated valentine's gift to ash!!!! hey ash!!!! i hope i didnt slaughter the ship for you KLGHDLGKDHGSDKL and no, i did not keysmash in the fic, i promise. even tho i wanted to,,,,  
> anyway!!! since it's valentine's day and its supposed to be romantic, i picked my favorite fluff prompt to use, soulmates. more specifically, a prompt i found on tumblr (a soulmate AU list post made by user thepokyone) in which the scars your soulmate gets, shows up on your body, and vice versa. idr the prompt word by word, but that's what i decided to do with it. that, and that kuroo and daichi would have very stupid scars KLGHDSGKLDSGHSDKL  
> i hope you all enjoy your reading!!!!

There was a lot that modern science couldn’t explain as it was, one of those things being the nature of soulmates. As far as Kuroo knew, it seemed widely accepted as part of being human, since there was evidence of it being as old as the concept of writing. There was no explanation as to how it happened, or why it manifested that way — sharing your scars with your soulmate seemed very arbitrary, which raised even more questions about the whole thing.

 

At some point, Kuroo decided he wouldn’t break his brain trying to figure that out. Maybe when he was an adult, working his ass off at a laboratory to crack the code. But that wouldn’t happen any time soon.  

 

What mattered was that it meant someone out there was meant to be with you, platonically or romantically, and it was comforting enough to quiet down a lot of his worries. Even if the people currently around him didn’t accept him for who he was, someone out there would, and he would meet that someone eventually.  

 

What Kuroo didn’t quite expect was that, maybe, his soulmate was closer than he thought.

 

i.

 

Having scarred knees wasn’t uncommon, was it? Kuroo didn’t know much about kids or their behavior in general, but, from personal experience, he saw a lot of kids — including himself — tumble to the ground, lose half their kneecaps on the pavement, bleed and cry until an adult showed up or they calmed down enough to seek help. Not everyone gets a scar from that, but still.

 

Kuroo had one of those from his own experience, a pale, raised scar on his left knee. It wasn’t in the same spot anymore, going from the bottom of his knee to the top, almost on his thigh, sliding up his leg as he grew up.

 

He remembered it pretty clearly, even after all those years, and Kenma probably didn’t forget, either. He fell when they were playing volleyball at a park near their house when they were kids.

 

The memory came forth in his mind when he noticed a pretty similar one on Sawamura’s left knee, sitting next to him while they drank water between matches, paralyzing him for a few seconds.

 

Kuroo tried dismissing it. He caught himself like that many times before, wondering if any of his volleyball peers — teammates or rivals alike — were his soulmate based on bruised knees. If it wasn’t a common scar for a young child to get, it was probably a pretty common one for volleyball players, with the flying falls and running around so much. He was probably overthinking this. It would be _way too convenient_ that his soulmate would be close to him before his 20’s.

 

Even more convenient (and weirdly poetic) if he happened to be the captain of his school’s old rival team, Sawamura Daichi, whose team was joining in the yearly summer training camp for the first time.

 

Sawamura seemed unaware of it, but he was really attractive. From the simple, honest way he talked and felt, to the way he looked. Strong jawline, muscles toned from his dedication to volleyball, his tough expression softened by the people around him, for whom he cared as much as he did for the sport. There was something enchanting about him, really, and, although Kuroo didn’t miss it the first time they met, it had a stronger impact on him after spending more time around Sawamura, be it on the court or not.

 

Kuroo was certain someone like that was probably already dating, and if he wasn’t, there were probably a lot of people out there willing to. Even if the thought didn’t particularly please him.

 

It didn’t stop Kuroo from checking Sawamura out, though, which was how he got in the situation he was in. First, because Sawamura decided to talk to him when they accidentally made eye contact during their afternoon break, and second because that was how he saw the matching scar on his left knee.

 

“Hey, Kuroo?” Sawamura asked after a while, raising an eyebrow at him, bringing Kuroo back to the reality he was still staring at Sawamura’s leg. “You’ve been zoned out for a while. Are you okay?”

 

“I’m good, I’m good!” Kuroo waved both his hands, looking somewhere else, sweat beading as his face warmed up. “It’s just that it’s too warm to focus on anything right now.”

 

“Ugh, yeah,” seemingly satisfied with the explanation, Sawamura turned his focus to his water bottle, picking it up from the spot of grass next to him and heaving a sigh when he noticed it was empty. “Is it always this warm in Tokyo?”

 

“During the summer? Yeah, kinda,” there were other things Kuroo felt the impulse to say on the matter, none related to actual weather, that he barely managed to keep to himself. It didn’t feel like a good moment to be flirty, nor would it ever be while they were in training camp, with so many people around. “But you guys were lucky to get it at its worst. Or unlucky, depends on your preferences.”

 

“Definitely unlucky,” Sawamura left out a disgruntled chuckle from behind his towel, wiping the sweat from his face.

 

Their conversation ended there, leaving them in uncomfortable silence until one of Karasuno’s first years started doing something that Sawamura decisively couldn’t allow them to. Kuroo laughed to himself, watching as his crush-in-development strode away, fighting the urge to stare too much. It was in moments like that that Kuroo, despite feeling quite old, realized he was still a teenager. A blushing, potentially horny teenager. Thankfully, the blood on his face could be excused by exercise and it was about time to go back to training, volleyball taking the front of his thoughts.

 

His eyes sometimes still wondered to Sawamura’s left knee, not quite sure what to make of it.

 

ii.

 

Nekoma faced Karasuno a good number of times that afternoon, winning each of them. Their team was definitely doing better than last time they faced each other, but still, not by a far margin. Especially considering their pair of little monsters, Hinata and Kageyama, arrived late that training camp. And when they did arrive, they seemed off their game.

 

Playing against them was still a good, fun challenge. Both teams had a very different strategy on the court, not to mention that training with different teams during the training camps was a nice change of pace, especially considering the schools participating in that summer training camp were always the same. Not that playing against Shinzen High or Fukurodani wasn’t any fun anymore, but still. Having Karasuno join them that summer was interesting for the others as much as it was for Karasuno.

 

That being said, playing against them wasn’t only fun, but also kinda _funny_. Kuroo would be lying if he claimed their screw ups weren’t unintentionally hilarious from a distance. If it was his team, however… He could relate to Sawamura not being amused by it.

 

He had a handful of rowdy, inexperienced first years in his team, three of them being starters. And even though Tsukishima didn’t cause a lot of troubles with his lack of enthusiasm and unstoppable snarky remarks, he was still part of the problem. Karasuno had been playing as a team for too short of a time and it was easily noticeable, leaving the older team members (the two hypemen of the team, goatee guy and Sawamura) to deal with it.

 

Which meant running around to re-receive balls the first years couldn’t quite get, spiking shitty balls and overall taking care of defense by themselves, while trying to keep the whole team’s morale up, which didn’t come up as a surprise.

 

What did come up as a surprise was Sawamura receiving with his forehead at some point during a match, considering he was as solid as a rock when it came to defense. And when it came to his biceps, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that Yamamoto managed to confuse Karasuno’s defense to the point where Sawamura didn’t place himself well, ultimately receiving with his forehead with a loud cringy _smack_ , and _barely winced,_ to both teams’ surprise.

 

Sawamura stood there for a few seconds, looking a little dazed, before smiling at the amount of people that surrounded him (including their coach and head teacher) and saying he was ok, insisting he could keep playing.

 

He wasn’t lying. Sawamura kept playing with barely any difference in performance, but definitely a little less confident in his receives, that resulted in another loss for Karasuno. And off they went, on another hilariously bad flying fall session around the court.

 

Maybe Kuroo should’ve sent Lev along with them, the boy needed the practice as well. But he’d get it on his own time.

 

After the losing teams of the last rounds of practice matches were done with the flying falls, everyone helped clean the gym and went off to take showers, looking forward for dinner. Some were looking forward for independent practice — from the corner of his eye, he spotted Hinata trying to convince Kenma to join him on some spike practice, Lev joining him on his excitement right after — but Kuroo would pass it that time. He was terribly hungry, more so than usual. Gay thoughts  waste more body energy, maybe. Or practice was just that exhausting. He wasn’t sure. So instead of independent practice, he’d take a shower and chill.

 

Unsurprisingly, a lot of the other boys joined on his idea, the dining area a distinct mix of musk of sweaty kid and amazing food. It would’ve been a huge turn off if his stomach wasn’t painfully contorting on his insides, begging for food even harder. And he happily obliged, humming excitedly as he made his way to the food, grabbing extra servings. Both for him and for Kenma, who he rightfully guessed only got a bit of rice, a small slice of fish and dessert. They knew each other too well.

 

Which meant that Kenma probably noticed he was fumbling around during the day.

 

“You’re acting weird,” Kenma quietly commented as he fetched his PSP on his pocket and turned it on, uninterested in the veggies Kuroo brought him. “ ‘Something going on?”

 

“Huh? No,” Kuroo replied on reflex, his thoughts empty as he ate, but tensed up once he realized what Kenma might’ve been talking about. Lying to him was out of question and a fruitless effort, so he cleared his throat to elaborate. “It’s… Nothing. Nothing serious.”

 

Knowing each other too well also meant that Kenma knew Kuroo would tell him eventually. Kuroo always did, and this time wasn’t an exception. But there were a lot of people around, people that didn’t need to know. So Kenma simply nodded at him and didn’t insist, going back to his game and occasionally picking something from his lukewarm plate to chew on.

 

Kenma didn’t stick around for too long, quickly giving up on his food and leaving the dining area to look for a quiet, peaceful place to indulge in his gaming habits. Kuroo left soon after, craving a long, relaxing shower. Hopefully there wouldn’t be much of a line for the showers at that time, leaving him plenty warm water and time alone with his thoughts, letting them wander where they couldn’t embarrass him. He didn’t get to reach the showers, however, since he met Sawamura halfway down the corridor.

 

Sawamura seemed to come fresh out of the shower. He smelled nice, of minty shampoo and soap, hair damp with a towel still hanging on his shoulders and overall looking relaxed. Tired, but content. Something about it made Kuroo’s stomach flip, weirdly happy about it.

 

Kuroo considered turning on his heels and going back into the dining area to avoid him, but waved at Sawamura instead, knowing that the tug on his lips meant he was smiling like a complete idiot.

 

“Hey,” he said when Sawamura came closer to talk to him, unwillingly staring at his forehead before meeting him in the eye. Their height difference also meant that was the first thing to come into Kuroo’s line of sight. Endearing, if you asked him. “Are the showers free? Or there’s a lot of people there?”

  
  
“Not really. It was just me and two other guys for a long time.”

 

Kuroo briefly closed his eyes and hummed contently as a reply, and Sawamura joined him in that. Good to know he wasn’t the only one that didn’t particularly appreciate the obligatory company during the showers.

 

“Good, good.” Kuroo said without much thought, opening his eyes again and unwillingly landing on Sawamura’s forehead again. It was still red and swollen from earlier that afternoon, which got him a little worried. It also reminded him of something. “You feeling better? Yamamoto insisted I apologized for him.”

 

“I’m good, he doesn’t need to worry,” Sawamura chuckled slightly, scratching at the back of his head. “Besides, it’s not like he targeted me.”

 

“Yea, I know. But that sure was a tough receive,” Kuroo commented as he looked closely at Sawamura’s forehead while he nodded vehemently. Feeling proud of a team member got kinda buried under the feeling something else looked wrong about him, though, so he kept looking. “It’s kinda swollen, dude, are you sure you don’t need anything?”

 

“I’m fine,” Sawamura sternly replied, furrowing his eyebrows at him, seemingly a little flustered. Kuroo couldn’t help but smirk in return.

 

And, again, it was after staring Sawamura too hard that Kuroo spotted something. A thin, pink line of what looked like stitches under his right eyebrow, weirdly familiar to him. Kuroo faintly remembered his dad finding one similar to that on his right eyebrow when he was 4 and flipping out, thinking he had injured himself and refused to tell him. The thought sent Kuroo spiralling again, freezing in place for long seconds, not realizing the uncomfortable closeness and silence until he noticed how upset and red Sawamura’s whole face looked.

 

“Dude, did that ball… cut your eyebrow or something?” Kuroo considered lying, but his brain cells weren’t ready to fabricate a story, so he blurted out that instead, his finger hovering over Sawamura’s eyebrow.

 

“What? No.” Sawamura squinted at him for a second, before seemingly remembering what Kuroo was pointing at. “Ah, that,” he chuckled, putting a finger to his eyebrow and raising it to make it more visible. “It’s a very old scar. I fell head first on a cardboard box once and it was stapled at the bottom.”

 

 _“That’s gotta hurt,”_ Kuroo cringed at the thought, placing a hand on his own eyebrow.

 

“And it really did.” he vehemently nodded. “It was a nasty cut, I had to get it stitched up. And I got a few vaccine shots as well.”

 

They stood there for a little longer, nodding at each other sympathetically, covering their own eyebrows. Kuroo wouldn’t have noticed how silly it was if Sawamura didn’t chuckle while putting his hand down. Alone in the corridor leading to the dining area, only the muffled sound of excited chatter in the distance, Kuroo felt the urge to say something else. They were still standing closely, at arm’s reach, just staring at each other. Both his and Sawamura’s scars still clearly visible, feelings boiling in this chest.  

 

Kuroo said nothing, though, words getting stuck in the lump of his throat like a pill he couldn’t swallow, and waved a meek goodbye when Sawamura took a step back, saying he still had to get dinner. Then, Kuroo walked the opposite direction, towards the gym again, hearing the squeak of sport shoes and Bokuto’s boisterous laughter.

 

Some independent training didn’t sound too bad. He just had dinner and jumping around would probably get him nauseous, but it was still better than overanalyzing what had just happened.

 

iii.

 

Kuroo spilled the beans to Kenma that night after his late shower. Kenma was half asleep when he arrived and didn’t do much to acknowledge anything he said, other than mumbling something along the lines of “I can’t give you an answer to that” when Kuroo finished telling him stuff. It didn’t help much — how would Kenma help, anyways? He was right about not being able to —  but he felt a little better after getting it off of his chest, drifting peacefully to sleep after that.

 

As peaceful as it was to sleep with 15 other people in the same room, but still. Peaceful. No bad dreams, no waking up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. Kuroo slept through the whole night and woke up energized for the day, ready for multiple volleyball matches.

 

But first, breakfast.

 

 _Go sit next to your own team_ , Kuroo thought to himself on the line to get his food, looking around the dining area and checking the tables. _You have confused first years to orient. Your own friends to talk to. Yaku’s already giving you some shady looks._ But it was no use: his body refused his orders and went straight to where Sawamura was sitting as soon as he noticed a vacant spot there. At the very least, Hinata and Tsukishima were sitting nearby, poking at each other like baby siblings, so he could comment on the training they did the night before.

 

Like Yaku from the other table, Tsukishima shot him a dirty, judgemental look. Hinata looked mildly confused, but greeted him seconds later with his usual enthusiasm. Sawamura didn’t bat an eye, scooting to the other side to give him more space.

 

Conversations in the morning weren’t nearly as energetic as those in the later hours of the day, but that was comforting. Kuroo wouldn’t handle being in the dining area if it was as noisy as it was the night before, because learning to be functional in the mornings didn’t mean he had turned a new leaf and become a Morning Person. He was barely dealing with Hinata talking to him, if he was being honest, but he didn’t have the heart to be angry at Hinata for that. Making people feel bad for things they’re excited about was just mean. Besides, Sawamura would probably jump at his throat if he said something shitty to his underclassmen. Tsukishima had no mercy and was having none of that, though, relentlessly mocking and complaining about Hinata’s incessant talking. Their banter was funny.  

 

“Do you want some?” Sawamura said all of a sudden, raising a plate of rolled omelette and grilled fish to them, offering to the first years first. “You guys are eating too little, there’s a lot of training today.” Tsukishima rolled his eyes, shaking his head. “ _Especially_ you.”

  
“I already ate something, thank you,” Tsukishima grumbled, gently pushing away Sawamura’s plate with a hand. “I’ll survive another day.”

 

“You’re not supposed to _survive_ the day, you should be living it.”

 

“Stingyshima lives on pure spite alone,” Hinata chimed in, taking a piece of fish and placing on his already full plate of food.

 

“You two…”

 

Sawamura pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand, momentarily closing his eyes, while Kuroo wheezed on his side. He would’ve laughed more openly at that if he didn’t feel bad for Sawamura, who had to deal with that on a daily basis and wasn’t amused in the slightest.  

 

“How about you, Kuroo?” after a long sigh, Sawamura smiled to himself and turned the plate to Kuroo, still plenty of food there. “Want some?”

 

“Did you get this much food thinking of everyone?” Kuroo blinked at him, feeling a rush of warmth wash over him. There was also a bit of guilt, considering he never brought any food to the table for more people unless it was for Kenma, but that was something he could correct. “I’m flattered.”

 

“I got some extra stuff for them,” he nodded towards the two other boys, smiling. “But most of it is for me. You can take whatever you want, though.”

 

That shouldn’t have come as a surprise, really, considering Sawamura was pretty jacked and no one could grow that much muscle without eating properly, but Kuroo raised his eyebrows and gave him a round of slow claps, because that was an impressive amount of food. It was a _lot._ And had some very good looking items that Kuroo didn’t get on his plate due to the amount of people in front of him in line, so Kuroo raised his chopsticks to choose something.

 

That was when he noticed a little something on the tip of Sawamura’s index finger. A small, moon shaped, low scar, one that he immediately recognized.

 

Kuroo was five years old when he found a turtle at the playground he used to frequent and decided to mess around with it. He didn’t hurt the turtle — he was never that sort of kid, even though many other kids in his neighborhood weren’t opposed to the idea — but sure annoyed it quite a bit, to the point where it decided to get immediate revenge and bit his finger when he tried offering some leaves as peace treaty. He had no idea turtles bit, much less with enough strength to scar you for the rest of your life, not only emotionally.

 

He didn’t plan on making any expression at all, but Sawamura seemed to notice something was wrong.

 

Kuroo’s heart jumpstarted after the seconds in stasis, making him feel like his entire body was burning, and swiftly picked the grilled fish that was closest to his chopsticks, despite the fact that he didn’t want that one.

 

“Thanks, Sawamura,” he forced a grin before turning to his food and shoving a lot of it in his mouth, hoping that he wasn’t too red on the cheeks. Kuroo didn’t check to see the other’s reactions, not even Sawamura’s, before he willed his heart to stop racing.

 

There were a few seconds of silence between the Karasuno players before they went back to talking like normally, and no one commented on it afterwards. But Kuroo would avoid the three of them for the rest of the day.

 

iv.

 

Or _try_ avoiding, really.

 

First and foremost, because that wasn’t on Kuroo’s nature. The Karasuno guys didn’t know anyone else in the training camp besides Nekoma, and it was only polite that they stuck around and helped them socialize with other people. Not that they needed much help, considering they were pretty outgoing (most of them) and the other teams on their circle was pretty cool as well, but Kuroo felt somewhat responsible in having them feel welcomed and comfortable there.

 

There was also the fact that it was inevitable that they played against each other that day and the next day, too, considering the rotation of teams for the training and all. Playing wasn’t a big issue, though. They could poke fun at each other on the court, but not hold any form of conversation, so it was fine.

 

Lunch, dinner and all the breaks in between were the problem, because that was when people sat to talk, and after talking to them so much, it seemed that Sawamura half expected Kuroo to come talk to him during those breaks, from the way he glanced on Kuroo’s direction.

 

And how could Kuroo deny him? He was weak, too weak, and falling way too hard for whatever reason. Sawamura didn’t even fit his type, _what the hell._

 

After hanging out with his team for a while, he made his way to where Sawamura was sitting. He was sitting at the stairs again, next to Tsukishima and (oddly) Bokuto, all staring at the sky.

 

There were three or four different groups of birds of different sizes, all in flying formation, going to the same direction. Probably migrating.

 

“Impressive, huh,” Kuroo leaned against the wall, sipping his water bottle, watching it again. “Any idea what those are?”

 

“Nope,” Bokuto replied. “But they look so cool! Look at those big ones! What are those?”

 

“Geese, maybe?”

 

“No,” Tsukishima chimed in, with an air of authority. “Most geese fly away when spring begins. These seem to be arriving now. Besides, most geese live in reserves nowadays and don’t get to migrate.”

 

“Really?” Bokuto turned towards Tsukishima, leaning closer to him, eager to make more questions. “That’s awesome! How do you know so much about birds, Tsukki?”

 

“Don’t… call me that.”

 

“Why not? It’s-” he whined, but stopped midway through and changed focus. His dramatic shift, both in tone and in position, was enough to call everyone’s attention to whatever he was looking at — he was staring at Sawamura, who was cringing _hard_ at the bird talk. “Hey, dude, are you ok? You look _sick._ Are you going to puke?”

 

“It’s fine,” Sawamura tried a smile, waving a hand to dismiss them, but Bokuto was insistent, leaning closer and putting a hand on his back. “Just… Some trauma I didn’t expect to be thinking about.”

 

“Trauma? Sawamura, are you scared of birds?” Bokuto gasped, sounded both surprised and offended. “What did they ever do to you?”

 

“Bo, my bro, you’re not a bird,” Kuroo interrupted, trying not to laugh for Sawamura’s sake, but still smirking. “You don’t have to be so offended.”

 

“I know, I just-”

 

“It’s not birds in general,” Sawamura laughed, eyes getting all scrunched up, just to go back to a stern, almost terrified expression. “only geese. Geese are evil creatures.”

 

The other three exchanged looks between themselves, stifling giggles once again. There were sillier fears, Kuroo thought to himself, but fear of geese seemed pretty silly in his opinion. There were other far more intimidating, dangerous birds out there. He read some pretty terrifying things about crows before, which was… weirdly funny in that situation, considering their team’s imagery. But Sawamura was dead serious about it, staring in the distance with a blank face.

 

They remained silent until Sawamura decided to speak again, raising his right arm to show something: a very distinct bite mark.

 

“I was young and clueless when I decided to play with the geese back in Miyagi,” He started, looking specifically at Tsukishima, like he was warning him about it. Tsukishima opened his mouth to say something, but promptly closed again, seemingly at loss of words. “My grandpa had a bunch of ducks, so I thought the geese would also be fine with me hanging around. They weren’t and charged at me. Never trusted a goose since.”  

 

Upon seeing that, Kuroo’s right arm flinched in recognition, leaving him mortified in his spot.

 

 _“Dude,”_ Bokuto dragged his speech, mouth left agape, eyes darting from Kuroo to Sawamura repeatedly. “That looks-” _just like Kuroo’s!_ Kuroo guessed he’d say and apparently was right about it, by the way Bokuto stared at him wide eyed and stopped mid-sentence. Bokuto had the sensibility to stop and change tracks after getting a vehement shake of the head from Kuroo. Bless his heart. “That looks like a frickin’ shark bite! What the hell! I didn’t know geese attacked people!”

 

“See?!” Sawamura gestured towards him with a hand to agree. “They do! Geese are vile animals and shouldn’t be trusted.”

 

“That’s…” Tsukishima tried again, his voice still tinted with laughter, but couldn’t find it in him to mock his captain. Maybe out of fear of being punished, who knew. Sawamura didn’t seem like the type who’d do that, but that was just Kuroo’s outsider, infatuated opinion.

 

The bird talk stopped there, thankfully, because the coaches approached them to warn that training would start again in a few minutes. So they all got up and started walking towards their own teammates, with Bokuto screaming at them to give them their all when they faced him, trying to hype them up.

 

Bokuto gave Kuroo a special wink, and Kuroo knew what that meant.

 

That night, after they were done with formal practice and independent practice, Bokuto tackled him in the corridor, holding him in a powerful grip and asking him exactly what Kuroo had been questioning, himself.

 

“I don’t know, Bo,” it was all he could say, looking at the ground, kicking some pebbles. “I really don’t.”

 

“Aw, bro,” Bokuto said with a sympathetic look and pout to match, throwing his arm over Kuroo’s shoulder. “I hope he is. He seems nice, and you deserve a nice soulmate.”

 

“Thanks, dude.”

 

v.

 

Kuroo didn’t want to get his hopes up with Sawamura, afraid that finding out he was wrong in his hypothesis would hurt him too badly, but the only way he’d know that was spending more time with Sawamura, so that was what he did.

 

For the next two days, they kept chatting, bantering and riling each other up on the court like normal. Karasuno was getting better even in the short span of the training camp, eating up any bit of information and skill they could get, making the matches against them increasingly harder. It was all good fun, though, no hard feelings.

 

After Sawamura told him that the showers were empty during dinner time, a lot of the boys preferring to eat before taking a shower, they kept stumbling on each other during bath time, too. And it was mostly nice. However, it would’ve been a lot more pleasant if it wasn’t for Kuroo’s raging crush on Sawamura.

 

Staring in general felt creepy, but staring while they were changing felt _creepier,_ and Kuroo had a hard time avoiding it, especially when Sawamura was acting so casually, completely unaware of how hard it was for Kuroo to act natural.

 

Sawamura was quite the sight to see: Broad shoulders, defined muscles all over, mostly unblemished skin if it wasn’t for the scars Kuroo had already noticed and compared to his own. Even his distinct tan — the clear marks of training shirt and shorts, paler on the stomach than his arms and legs — was charming, and worked with him. It was unfair, really, that someone as nice as him also looked that good, and left Kuroo feeling too meek and lean in comparison as he felt hot and _bothered._

 

He tried his best to not let Sawamura know, though, afraid it’d freak him out and push him away. So he indulged in Sawamura’s friendly conversations while they were changing, in hearing him sigh in relief every time he got in the shower, in checking him out only when Sawamura turned his back to him and looking only straight in his eyes when they were face to face. But even that was hard.

 

Kuroo was pretty sure at that point, that Sawamura was his soulmate. It was hard to deny the evidence he had, dismiss it as mere coincidence, but there was still an ungraceful amount of insecurities sitting in the pit of his stomach, preventing him to be sure.

 

He need infallible evidence, a surefire way to know, and he had to find it during that training camp, because he couldn’t keep living with those doubts.

 

But when he got what he was asking for, he didn’t know if it was a blessing or a curse.

 

It was the second to last day of training camp, by far one of the most exhausting ones, and his shower was quieter than usual. When both met at the changing room, they only greeted each other with tired smiles and soft hums of acknowledgement, changing out of their clothes and walking to their preferred shower box without a word. It wasn’t needed — both felt the same physical strain, an ache all over the body for training so hard in so many days in a row. It’d be a lot worse the next day and the thought got Kuroo tensing under the warm water before the temperature did it’s business and washed it away.

 

When they were changing into their clean underwear, Kuroo caught a glimpse of Sawamura’s ass, not admiring it much before finding a very distinct, very embarrassing and very familiar scar there.

 

In the back of his mind, Kuroo remembered his dad joyfully telling him of the time he was two and scared of needles. According to him, Kuroo slapped a doctor’s hand when they were trying to give him a flu shot, breaking the needle on his skin and making it hurt way more than it would’ve hurted if he just accepted it. He cried a lot, taking the broken needle out was quite the hassle and it left him a scar on his buttcheek. One his dad would never let him live it down, because it was so, _so stupid._

 

It was there, on Sawamura’s ass, the same spot, same buttcheek.

 

Kuroo wasn’t sure how he started falling or why. He didn’t register his limbs going numb or anything of the sort, only a weird mix of embarrassment and euphoria that had him dizzy. He realized that he was falling on his side quick enough to raise an arm and brace himself against the lockers, loudly slamming against the metallic doors. He also registered Sawamura looking over his shoulder and how it immediately made his whole body feel like it was burning.

 

“Kuroo, are you ok?” he asked while he was turning around, but Kuroo didn’t give him any time to look. Kuroo fumbled wildly with his underwear, slamming against the lockers some more and almost tripping on himself, hurriedly pushed a shirt on his head (was that the clean or the dirty one? He didn’t pay attention. It was too late for that, when he realized it.) and his shorts up his knees before running out.

 

 _“Kuroo!”_ Sawamura shouted from the changing room’s door, but Kuroo refused to look behind him.

 

“I’m fine! I’m so sorry!” he shouted back and sprinted faster, crashing against the door and closing it just as abruptly behind him. He thought he heard Sawamura asking what he was sorry for, but there were no other shouts coming from him or steps coming closer, thankfully.

 

When Kuroo got his bearings again, leaning against a pillar, the humid night breeze hit his tingly warm skin and his heart stopped thundering in his ears, his thoughts started running wild again, realizing he had made quite a fool of himself.

 

_Oh, fuck. What do I do now? How do I face him now? How do I tell him about it?_

 

Kuroo didn’t know where to start. There was a lot he’d like to tell Sawamura, not only about shared scars and intertwined lives and the normal stuff being soulmates implied, but just giving him the news wouldn’t be easy. During training camp, with all their peers around to see. The thought of spilling his heart out to Sawamura in front of everyone was scary in itself, but even more terrifying would be getting rejected. That Sawamura would freak out at Kuroo thinking of him this way, that he might be dating someone else already, that he didn’t like Kuroo _at all_ and rejected this bond placed upon them by whatever or whoever made such arrangements.

 

His stomach grumbled loudly, reminding Kuroo that he didn’t have much time to sit there on his own. Soon enough, the other boys would come bouncing out of the dining area and towards the showers, crossing paths with him. And looking as messy as he was — hair poking everywhere, his shirt inside out, face as red as a pepper — he’d probably get some questions. Not to mention that both he and Sawamura had yet to grab dinner and, considering how confused and distressed Sawamura sounded, he would definitely ask about what had just happened if they met there. No, he couldn’t bear to deal with that that night. He had to think this through.

 

Resigned but not content, Kuroo fetched his wallet from Nekoma’s dormitory and settled on vending machine drinks and snacks for the night. He made his way back to their assigned room as soon as he could, food in hand, determined to spend the rest of his night there. Only him, his futon, his phone’s notes and the thoughts he struggled to put in organized, flattering words; for as long as his teammates allowed him to.

 

It didn’t take long for his team to show up, one by one, asking him what he was doing there so early, why he skipped independent training that night, etc, but didn’t press the subject too much when Kuroo gave them vague answers.

 

Yaku didn’t buy any of it but didn’t press him, either to respect his decision to keep to himself or because he was too tired to deal with it. Kuroo appreciated it nonetheless.

 

Kenma asked him later, when most of the team was asleep, and Kuroo confided in him. Again, Kenma didn’t tell him much, not being able to offer him more than a comforting hand on his back and understanding looks in between game levels on his PSP. But chatting so late in the night eventually got to him, resulting in Kuroo drifted to sleep in the middle of talking, mumbling incomprehensible thoughts to the winds. He faintly remembered the last things he told Kenma and a weird dream he had when he woke up with the morning sun in his eyes.

 

And just like the sun, the realization that he’d have to face Sawamura that very day hit him hard, making Kuroo feel dead cold even on that warm summer day.

 

Avoiding Sawamura during breakfast was not as hard as he had expected. They both had teams to go to, after all, even though Kuroo had neglected his role as captain on all other meals. His teammates didn’t seem to mind — confused, but not mad about it — and welcomed him in their table like he sat there everyday. Again, Yaku gave him some weird looks, but he’d tell him about it in another time. Maybe. And Sawamura didn’t insist in those moments, either because his first years were being rowdy and leaving him busy or because he wasn’t _all that worried,_ Kuroo thought.

 

That assumption proved to be wrong, because Sawamura looked at him from afar for the whole day, trying to mouth words at him and start conversation whenever he noticed Kuroo looking back, but Kuroo was too much of a coward to acknowledge it and go talk to him.

 

The barbeque the coaches kindly offered them by the end of the day, to celebrate a successful training camp and let them have fun for their last night there, didn’t leave much space for ignoring him, though.

 

Karasuno’s team members mixed well with Nekoma’s out of the court. Yamamoto and Karasuno’s Hypeman #1 got along well, screaming at each other and relating to the simplest of things like it was groundbreaking. Yaku and Karasuno’s libero (Hypeman #2) bonded quite well, too, and so did their second setter. Even Kenma was getting along, especially with Hinata, but he was actually sitting in comfortable silence besides Tsukishima during the barbeque, both “bonding” over appreciating quiet time and ignoring food.

 

Okay, bonding over not eating wasn’t a thing Kuroo could endorse. So when he spotted Bokuto and Sawamura exchanging looks and decisively walking towards the quiet duo with obnoxious amounts of food in their plates, Kuroo decided it was a good moment to suspend his compromise to avoid Sawamura all day to go join them.

 

Kuroo immediately regretted it, though, because once they were done forcing food on unwilling teenagers like “pesky uncles”, Sawamura made a move.

 

“Hey,” Kuroo felt Sawamura’s strong hand timidly touch his shoulder, freezing in place. He could feel his stern, worried look boring holes in his back. “Can we talk? I-”

 

There was a serious attempt to say something intelligible, but Kuroo simply didn’t manage. He felt like he had just been struck by lightning, his thoughts racing so fast they looked blank, and his hands gesticulated something not even he would comprehend. And then, he flashed Sawamura an awkward grin and sprinted away from the barbecue and into the school building with no plan in mind.

 

 _Just. Running away now, great. Amazing._  

 

“Why are you running? _Why are you running?!”_

 

Sawamura swiftly placed his plate on a nearby table and chased after him towards the corridor, sounding worried at first, but quickly getting angry about it, his steps getting heavier and faster behind him. In retrospect, Kuroo should’ve stopped running, or, better yet, not have started running in the first place. Maybe asked to go to a quieter place, like a normal human being, but his brain and body seemed to be disconnected from each other for the past 3 days when he wasn’t on the volleyball court. _God, I’m an idiot._

 

“Kuroo, come on, talk to me,” he didn’t realize how quick Sawamura had caught up with him before he started talking again through ragged breaths, seemingly right on his ear. He faltered in his steps, but didn’t stop. _Why?!_ “Stop running away!” he grabbed at Kuroo’s shoulder as soon as he reached him, yanking him to face him and cornering him against the wall. “What’s going on?!”

 

“Nothing! Nothing’s going on!” Kuroo’s voice raised an octave in his feeble attempt to act normal, his face flaring up again. Sawamura gave him a dirty look in response, keeping a strong grip on his shoulder. “I just have to go to the restroom, dude.”

 

“I’m not _stupid,_ Kuroo, you’ve been avoiding me all day,” he hissed, making a pained expression. After a second of silence, Sawamura heaved a sigh and let go of Kuroo, straightening his shirt where he was holding as soon as he realized Kuroo wouldn’t try to run away again.

 

Kuroo _couldn’t,_ practically glued to his spot, like they were standing in a pool of tar.

 

“Sorry.” Sawamura worried at his lip for a second, lowering his voice. “Just… Tell me what’s wrong. I don’t know what I did to upset you, but you’ve been running away all day and I don’t want to go back to Miyagi with things unresolved. What’s going on?”

 

Gaping like a fish, Kuroo tried saying something and failed again, curling his hands into fists on both sides of his body in frustration. His chest ached, heart beating tightly once confronted with the fact that he hurt Sawamura’s feelings by avoiding him for no reason other than being a gay mess and still _Sawamura_ was the one who was apologizing for getting angry, being considerate to _his_ feelings. Sawamura deserved to know what was going on, especially when both shared this sense of urgency to resolve things. They wouldn’t be seeing each other after the training camp ended, not for a while. But, like he hadn’t practiced the night before for hours, Kuroo didn’t know where to start.

 

“I like you, and I think we’re soulmates,” Kuroo intended to think that quietly to himself, but soon realized that he said it out loud by how Sawamura’s eyes widened. “Fuck… ”

 

“What?” Sawamura took a small step backwards, clearly taken aback by the sudden information. Not shocked, or offended, which was good, but certainly didn’t help Kuroo speak better.

 

“I, uhh, it’s…” there was no escaping after that. No waxing poetry, no touching confessions. All that was left to Kuroo was showing what he was talking about, starting by the bite mark on his right arm. “This showed up on my arm one morning. I don’t remember being bit here, but a turtle bit me-” then, his index finger. _“here.”_ Sawamura quietly observed, mouth left agape, and Kuroo continued, raising his own eyebrow, exposing the scar under it. “And this. I never had been stitched up, as far as I remember. But I did… ” Kuroo fumbled while trying to raise his left leg to show him his knee without hitting Sawamura, but managed. “Fall on the street when I was younger and got a nasty bruise here, that lasted for days.”

 

For a fraction of a second, Kuroo thought about talking about his flu injection incident, but, thankfully, it wouldn’t be necessary.  It seemed to down on Sawamura as he touched and examined his own body, a blush creeping up his neck and face. There were long seconds of silence after that, just staring at each other in a lonely corridor with the distant sound of sizzling meat on the grill and loud conversation in the yard. Kuroo hoped that this would’ve been a romantic moment, but it was only awkward, like a bad romcom.

 

“So, that’s the news. I’m glad you don’t hate me for that,” Kuroo scratched the back of his head and let out a breathless laugh, trying to make it a bit more casual, even though he had ruined the possibility for Full Casual the whole day. “It’s… _okay_ if you don’t like me back.” he coughed in the middle of his line to force the rest out. “But it’d be nice if we, y’know, chatted sometimes? Got to be friends? Since we’re… Y’know. I… I don’t know. I should probably stop talking entirely, shouldn’t I?”

 

Kuroo only managed to stop darting his eyes all around the corridor and look at Sawamura when he stopped rambling, surprised to see that Sawamura was smiling at him. Fondly, very fondly. Maybe a little more than that. Which got his heart pumping fast and hopeful in his chest.

 

“You can keep talking, I’m not any better with words,” Sawamura said, gently putting his hand on Kuroo’s arm, over their shared scar. Kuroo barely believed it when he felt Sawamura’s hand slide down his arm and towards his hand, tugging at it slightly. “But… yeah. Talking more doesn’t sound bad.”

 

“Okay, good to know. So, do you have… a phone?”

 

“Kuroo, you saw me using my phone the other day. _Of course_ I have a phone.” Sawamura chuckled at that, escalating into a proper laughter after a while, smiling wide and scrunching his eyes.

 

“Shit, yeah, you’re right.”

 

Kuroo started laughing too, shaking in his spot, lowering his head and closing his eyes. His forehead accidentally bumped against Sawamura’s, which wasn’t particularly pleasant, but when he didn’t flinch back, Kuroo lingered there, nuzzling his hair and holding his hand until they both stopped giggling like schoolgirls. Their little moment didn’t last very long, soon realizing someone would probably be looking for them — if not a teammate, one of the teachers. They shouldn’t be wandering on Shinzen’s school grounds without proper warning, and the barbeque was still going on. They took a step back, looked each other in the eye once again and walked together towards the yard again, letting go of each other’s hands only once they got there.

 

The science behind having soulmates was still wonky and finding his didn’t settle Kuroo’s curiosity about it, but it didn’t bother him anymore. Spending his days with Sawamura felt just right.

**Author's Note:**

> you can talk to me through [tumblr](http://kenmagoesblep.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/kenmagoesblep)! kudos and comments are very appreciated!


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